Second seed Roger Federer takes on fourth seed Kevin Anderson in the final round-robin match of the Lleyton Hewitt group at ATP Finals 2018 in London on Thursday, November 15.
When does the match start and how to watch it live on TV, online
The ATP Finals clash between Federer and Anderson will not start before 8 pm local time and 12:30 am IST (Friday).
Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream will available on Sony Liv.
Federer vs Anderson preview
The much-anticipated Hewitt group tie might end up being the last match of Federer's 2018 season if the Swiss great fails to step up and deliver against Anderson, who has been in fine form in the ongoing tournament.
Six-time champion Federer got off to a horrid start as he lost the tournament opener in straight sets to Kei Nishikori. However, he has kept his chances of reaching the semi-final of alive with a dominant straight-set win over Dominic Thiem in his second round-robin match.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who has looked far from his best in London over the last few days, faces the risk of bowing out in the group stages for just the second time in 16 year-end final appearances.
Federer will be through if he wins in straight sets and Thiem beats Nishikori in the first men's singles match of the day. A three-set win over Anderson makes things a little complicated as he would then bank on a Thiem win for his progress to the semi-final. Also, there is a scenario in which he can qualify even without winning today's match.
Nonetheless, Federer cannot afford to make the mistakes he committed in his first two outings on Thursday as Anderson has by far looked the best player of the group, if not the best in the eight-man playing field in London.
The big-serving South African made light work of Thiem in his first match and nearly double-bageled Nishikori in Tuesday's match to seal the top spot in the group.
Federer acknowledges the difficulty of the task in hand but insists that he will strive to come up with a better show in the crucial tie.
"What is) important for me is to play a good last match here in the round robin, try to beat Kevin. He has been playing great. He has had a wonderful season. Played great against me as well at Wimbledon," Federer told ATP's official website.
"That's my focus. I can't talk about what would come next because it's a hard match in itself. My first-round match here wasn't great, so today was better, and I need to keep that up against Kevin, obviously, if I want to have a chance to stay here in London."
Federer has a positive head-to-head record (4-1) against Anderson but the 32-year-old South African won their last meeting at Wimbledon after coming back from two sets down.
Federer vs Anderson: ATP Finals 2018 TV Guide
- UK: Sky Sports, BBC 2
- US: ESPN, Tennis Channel
- Canada: TSN, RDS
- France: beIN sport, Canal+
- Netherlands: Fox Sports
- Serbia: RTS
- Germany: Sky Deutschland
- Switzerland: SRG
- Japan: NHK
- Malaysia: Astro Supersport
- Singapore: Starhub
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